By Brian Bariyo Tumuramye
The Football Kenya Federation President Nick Mwendwa has assured Kenyans that Harambee Stars will feature in the next Africa Cup of Nations finals despite the early exit from the 2019 edition.
Team Kenya, who were making their first appearance in the AFCON after a 15-year wait, narrowly failed to make it past the group stages in Egypt after finishing third in a group led by Algeria, while Africa’s top-ranked side Senegal came second. FKF boss Mwendwa is confident they have now laid a strong foundation for the team to feature in the tournament on a regular basis.
“Can we come back again? Yes we are going to come back. We will be at the next AFCON; I can assure you that,” Mwendwa told press in an interview from Egypt. “We will not disappear from the big stage; we want to be a regular figure in the tournament and I can confidently tell you Kenya will be there come the next edition.” He added.
Mwendwa also said “We are on a very good path. We have now made a good team, and we have created a good collaboration with the government and our next step now is to qualify for Chan. Let us try hard and qualify for the Chan.” He however thanked the government for the support they accorded the team throughout the AFCON tournament.
“I think we have done a good job. We set up to prepare a team, we worked very hard to prepare the team, we managed one win but I am not happy to concede seven goals,” Mwendwa continued.
“I don’t want to complain about the goals we conceded because we also lost two of our key players to injuries just before the tournament kicked off. It was a huge blow but we must now accept the outcome and focus ahead.
He noted that “We can criticise the players for their performances but we should also look at what they did at the Afcon. I think it is not the time to hit out at the team but time to support the team so they can focus on the upcoming assignments.”
Harambee Stars lost their opener 2-0 to Algeria, beat East African neighbours Tanzania 3-2 before falling to Senegal 3-0 in their final Group match.
